They were unbeaten in 13 and winning plaudits all over the country until Sunday... so why wasn't Milan's 2-0 home defeat to Palermo on Sunday in the least bit surprising? Well, it's because Goal.com's Carlo Garganese was dead right back in September when he proclaimed this Milan squad to be the worst in 25 years.

As a resident of Milan, this writer has managed to see the Rossoneri up close on several occasions this season. The first was on that infamous night in September when they were humbled at the hands of Hannu Tihinen and FC Zurich in the Champions League. The following weekend I was in attendance as Ronaldinho scored a late equaliser to snatch a point away to 10-man Atalanta, a result commonly believed to have kept coach Leonardo in a job. And it was in Bergamo that afternoon that I was speaking to an official from Juventus, who echoed Carlo's words to the letter. "This is the worst Milan side since the Berlusconi days began."

But whilst I have been party to an upturn in results for the Via Turati side in the last two and a half months, they have remained unconvincing as a title contender. And it was only going to be a matter of time before Leonardo's new ultra-attacking '4-2-fantasia' formation was unlocked and put to the sword. This remains an old, weathered, creaking squad which will struggle to claim a top three place this season, let alone cause problems for the five-time champions in-the-making across the city.

Let's look at the facts... Milan's recent run has been based around the idea of keeping the ball, feeding Ronaldinho regularly and simply scoring more goals than the opposition. But whilst one can concede that their 3-2 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu was a fantastic result off the back of a great performance, it has been their only truly impressive display this season.

Their back-line is the worst Rossoneri defence this calcio fan have ever witnessed, even though it contains the mercurial Alessandro Nesta. Not a single full-back has impressed in the red and black this season. Gianluca Zambrotta, Giuseppe Favalli, Kakha Kaladze, Marek Jankulovski and Massimo Oddo have all lost it - if Oddo ever had it - and Ignazio Abate is a mediocre winger who has been asked to play at the back simply due to their defensive deficiencies. And at centre-back they have bigger problems than they might let on.

Let me put it out there... Alessandro Nesta, whilst being Milan's player of the season so far, is an accident waiting to happen. Not because he's lacking anything in ability - all of the defensive know-how is still there, as he has been forced to prove many a time this season - but because the poor guy is knackered. If you get the chance to see Milan up close in 2010, keep one eye on Sandrino. For there you'll see a man with his hands on his hips whenever the ball is out of his reach, be that in the last minute or the first. And when they're not on his hips, they're on his lower back, which, according to well-connected circles in the city, is ready to give way again at any moment. It's a distressing sight to see this man, who used to glide into challenges, now struggling to keep up due to his body's debilitated state.

It's not as though Nesta gets much time to rest, given the chaos going on around him. His Brazilian partner Thiago Silva has been winning plaudits for his performances since becoming eligible for the first XI in the summer. But whilst he has been a vast improvement on the abominable back-up pair of Favalli and Kaladze, he is prone to lapses of concentration which, at times, have landed the Diavoli in trouble (see Jeremy Menez's goal for Roma at the San Siro for one such example). And the very fact that Favalli and Kaladze are the only alternatives points to an alarming lack of depth at Milanello right now.

So whilst their front six have excited of late, Milan desperately need some help from their attack-minded players if they are not going to be found out in the collection of gigantic games that awaits them over the next month. As well as Saturday's trip to Fiorentina, there are January dates with Genoa, Juventus and Inter, as the Rossoneri revolution under Leonardo gets a real test for the first time in months. And with Palermo having shown the way, there's a good chance that Milan could be picked apart by the string of more convincing sides they have soon to play.

It's not as if you could put your house on their attacking six bailing them out against the top sides either. Whilst Ronaldinho in particular has revelled in his new pivotal role in recent weeks, Leonardo's new system, coupled with Clarence Seedorf's lack of defensive nous or any kind of pace, has created a huge amount of defensive responsibility for Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini, which the two 30-somethings are simply not up to fulfilling. This was in particular evidence in the recent home games against Cagliari and Marseille when Milan were battered in midfield but just about managed to get the results they needed. But those midfield ailments came to light again at the hands of the Rosanero on Sunday, and this time they were not so lucky.

So whilst their two-month unbeaten run bought them time, it's purchases of a different kind which are needed. January is not only a month which will make or break them on the pitch, it's also a chance for them to boost their ageing first team with a fresh injection of youth and vibrancy.

The signing of 34-year-old David Beckham and a contract renewal for Gennaro Gattuso cannot be the only movements of the winter if this Milan squad is to finish in the Champions League qualification positions and achieve anything of note in this year's edition. Serie A is not like the Premier League; when big teams show a vulnerable side, they are pounced on by the rest. Coaches are canny. They find weaknesses in the top sides and they go for them. Just look at Juventus' recent defeats to Cagliari and Bari, or even the Rossoneri's early-season troubles. So Sunday's defeat could be the beginning of a very difficult period for Milan.

But a string of good results before the end of January may do more harm than good if it persuades the powers that be to stick with the current group of players. For if Milan are to gain anything from this season, purchases must be made. The cracks must not be papered over in the same way they were in October and November. And transfer deals will only be done next month if vice-president Adriano Galliani is forced into a corner. Which means that a series of defeats in their tough fixture list over the next month may be no bad thing. Don't believe everything you read in the results column, action is needed. And sooner, rather than later.

Source : http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial...se-big-games-if

Dzeko, where does this article come from? Please cite a source.

I hate every little thing about this article. This guy is so full of himself to admit he was wrong and so annoyed that "the worst Milan squad in the Berlusconi era" are not last in the standings that he comes up with all this nonsense after one defeat... beware, it's the end of the world AGAIN, this time it might be "the worst Milan squad in history"!!!

This "article" is full of deliberately misguided bull, it's infuriating:

And see what else you retard? You have one ****ing example, even Nesta has made more big mistakes than Silva but we were lucky not to pay for any of them! Idiot, ****ing idiot!!!

Well there's 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

LOL u are right

Tee hee...this is funny!

I stopped reading halfway through. it's a load of nonsense.

Who the **** is Kris Voakes anyway? I usually read goal.com's debates and articles; don't remember anyone by that name at all.

He's an Inter or Juve fan apparently.